The history of the SKS begins in the Soviet Union during World War II, a period marked by rapid advances in small-arms technology. Prior to and during the early years of the war, Soviet infantry were primarily equipped with the Mosin-Nagant bolt-action rifle, a rugged but outdated firearm dating back to the late 19th century that, while incredibly hard-hitting and effective at long range, was slow-firing and ill-suited to the increasingly kinetic and close-range engagements that characterized modern warfare.
In response to this trend, Soviet designers had been experimenting with semi-automatic rifle designs prior to the, such as that of the SVT-40, but these weapons proved complex and difficult to mass-produce under the perilous wartime conditions in the Soviet Union, especially after the German invasion in the summer of 1941. And so, as the war progressed, while it became clear that a new type of infantry weapon was needed - one that better balanced firepower and reliability, as well as both ease of use and production, the development of precisely that kind of weapon would be something of an exercise in fits and starts.
Even more unfortunate for the Soviet forces, the conclusion that a lightweight autoloading carbine represented the next evolution in combat arms wasn’t theirs alone to reach. But when they faced German troops armed with what history now remembers as the first assault rifle, the MP 43 or Maschinenpistole 43, the importance of such a carbine was surely underlined. Chambered in the docile 7.92x33 Kurz round and cheaply manufactured from stamped steel, the MP 43 presented both a significant reason for the Soviets to accelerate the design of a similar weapon, while also providing them with the blueprint for one.
And so, the Soviet Union set about dissecting this new German Wunderwaffen to learn what they could, beginning with the key component: The cartridge. And with a speed that only active hostilities can enable, it created the first version of what would eventually become the modern 7.62×39mm round with a prototype cartridge known as 57-N-231, in December of 1943. Actually measuring 7.62x41mm long, this prototype met Soviet requirements for recoil reduction and lighter weight, while still offering adequate downrange performance, as indicated by their rigorous testing regime… which was apparently predicated on the round’s ability to punch through three sheets of 2.25 centimetre-thick (just over 7/8th of an inch) pieces of plywood at 600 metres. From there, the round was further improved with a boattailed, reshaped bullet to enhance accuracy and ballistic performance, and began serialized production in 1944 as the M43 cartridge.
And it was this round that would prove so consequential to the work of the well-established Soviet arms designer Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov, whose work on a lightweight autoloading carbine had been so rudely interrupted by Hitler’s Operation Barbarossa.
Simonov’s first significant work on semi-automatic rifles dated back to 1938, with his design for anything but a lightweight, autoloading carbine: The PTRS-41 anti-tank rifle: A massive, nearly 7-foot-long semi-automatic rifle firing the equally massive 14.5x114mm anti-materiel round. But, utilizing a fixed magazine, a short-stroke gas piston system, and a tilting bolt method of lockup, the PTRS provided Simonov a platform that could be relatively easily scaled down, and so from 1938 to 1941 he would experiment with everything from the diminutive 7.62×25mm Tokarev pistol calibre to the same 7.62×54R fired by the SVT-40 and Nagant. The latter specifically had a high degree of success, and in early 1941, the Soviet arms committee agreed to purchase 42 of his carbines chambered in 7.62x54R for field trials under the designation SKS-31.
But June would change all that, and all of Simonov’s designs would be shelved for the foreseeable future in the face of Hitler's invasion of Russia. But, with the development of the M43 round, Simonov’s SKS design was dusted off, with Simonov resuming work and adapting the larger SKS-31 to fire the new 7.63x39mm round in 1944. As part of this revision, he also removed the SKS-31’s muzzle brake (no longer required by the lighter-recoiling chambering), incorporated a permanent, folding bayonet, and replaced the metal gas system shroud with a removable wooden handguard that provided both superior insulation for the shooter in the case of rapid fire and improved serviceability of the short-stroke gas piston system.
The design was finalized in 1945, earning it the moniker the SKS-45, and was evaluated by the Red Army alongside the only other 7.62x39mm design that could be completed on such short notice: The AS-44, designed by Alexey Sudayev. Although more compact and featuring a fully automatic function, the AS-44 was also heavier, less reliable, and less accurate than the more polished and refined SKS design, which, in turn, led the army committee to select the SKS for field trials. Coincidentally, shortly after this decision had been reached, a third design chambered in 7.62x39mm was submitted, but rejected as it missed the initial evaluation window - a design created by none other than Mikhail Kalashnikov, and yes, the design that was rejected was that of the AK-47.
The SKS’s field trials were an unmitigated success, and the Soviet Union officially adopted the carbine in 1945. Field trials took place in the waning days of the Second World War, and small revisions were adopted. Production took place primarily at the Tula and Izhevsk arsenals, and by 1949, it had replaced the Mosin-Nagant as the Russian infantry’s issued rifle.
Despite its innovative features, the SKS was ultimately doomed to be a transitional firearm. Its design reflected a compromise between older and newer concepts, insofar as it offered semi-automatic fire and an intermediate cartridge but retained a fixed magazine and lacked select-fire capability.
But Kalashnikov’s late design entry for what would become the AK-47 had no such deficiencies. It featured a detachable 30-round magazine, select-fire capability, and similarly reliable operation in a stamped-steel and welded package that took even better advantage of the Soviet Union’s decentralized tooling and production capabilities. And so, by the early 1950s, just a few years after the SKS’ formal adoption, the Soviet military began replacing it with the AK-47 as its standard infantry weapon.
As a result, the SKS had a relatively short front-line service life in the Soviet Army. However, it was not retired entirely. Instead, it continued to serve in second-line roles, including with border guards, reserve units, and ceremonial formations, and still does today.
Although the SKS was quickly superseded in the Soviet Union by the AK, the end of its Soviet service only served to begin the second and perhaps more consequential chapter of the SKS’s story, which saw it become one of the most prolific firearm designs in history.
With the ability to produce huge quantities of the SKS without reducing its new AK-47 production capacity, the Soviet Union sent both huge volumes of rifles, as well as the machinery and the technical knowledge needed to manufacture SKS rifles, to a huge variety of fellow communist states. China became one of the largest producers, calling their version the Type 56, with millions more manufactured in Yugoslavia, known as the M59 and M59/66, Romania’s iteration called the M56, Poland’s being the ksS, Albania’s Type 56-1, and even East Germany manufacturing a version known as the Karabiner-S. Little is known about a North Korean version known as the Type 63, and Vietnam also made its own homegrown SKS called the Type 1, produced with Chinese cooperation until the factory was blown up by US bombing raids in 1965.
In total, it is estimated that between 5 million and 15 million SKS rifles of some form or another were produced worldwide. By comparison, this makes the SKS the third most common autoloading rifle on the planet, with the AK-47 way out in the lead with 75-100 million manufactured, and the AR-15 in second place with a total production volume of about 24 million thus far.
But by the late 20th century, the SKS was beginning to be considered outmoded for military service. As a result, large numbers of surplus rifles were exported to civilian markets, particularly in North America, where the massive volume available ensured absolute rock-bottom prices.
And few countries benefited from the sudden glut of surplus SKS rifles more than Canada, as US restrictions on arms of Russian or Chinese manufacture severely limited or outright banned the importation of most SKS rifles, significantly reducing the potential market for SKS rifles, which in turn kept Canadian prices for both the rifles themselves and (crucially) the ammunition they required at rock-bottom levels.
In the early 2010s, Soviet surplus rifles could be had for under $200, while Chinese examples commanded prices that were even lower. And there were so many available that it wasn’t uncommon to see retailers offering volume discounts on entire crates of rifles, and bulk packages including free rifles included in the purchases of crates of surplus ammunition, or vice versa.
And the result was that the SKS became a unique phenomenon within the Canadian shooting community. Its military provenance meant collectors appreciated the surprising number of variants, and even the rarest of manufacturers' marks could be had at very reasonable prices. Casual hobbyists appreciated that 7.62x39mm was far and away the cheapest centrefire ammunition available, which, when paired with the rifle’s easy and reliable operation, made it a great plinker. Hunters, especially those in remote areas, appreciated that the rifle offered similar ballistic performance to the familiar and proven .30-30 round but in a package that was more reliable than most lever-action rifles, easier to maintain, more readily available, and significantly lower in price. And of course, the bubbas out there loved the massive array of affordable aftermarket accessories that were available due to the rifle's extremely large market.
Unfortunately, that all changed with Russian hostilities in Eastern Ukraine circa 2014. Having been stored in storage facilities constructed some distance from the hypothetical western front line with NATO troops during the Cold War, most of the available Soviet surplus ammunition and rifles found themselves within contested areas, and were no longer available to Canadian nor global importers. As a result, prices for both the ammunition and rifles began to rise, on the back of constrained supply.
But even those post-2014 prices look good by today’s standards, where price tags for Russian examples regularly crest the four-figure mark, and Chinese Type 56s command nearly as much - the result of the gun’s status as one of only a few remaining non-restricted semi-automatic rifles to have survived the multiple gun bans that prohibited almost all others.
Although skyrocketing prices and the threat of changing gun regulations cast a pall over both the SKS specifically and the gun community writ large, none of that diminishes the SKS’s historically prominent role in shaping much of how Canadian gun culture looks today. For a long time, it was quite literally harder for recreational shooters to justify not owning one than the alternative, and in a period where most non-restricted semi-automatic rifles were prohibitively expensive, it provided many with an approachable, attainable way to access so many of the various facets of the gun hobby.
And today, even with prices having an additional figure attached, it remains stalwart in that role; a firearm the government is reticent to ban due to its ubiquity and importance to so many, and still offering the most accessible way to shoot a semi-automatic rifle affordably. In fact, even with today’s prices, the only thing people seem to regret is not buying one earlier.
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